I started getting a grinding/whirring noise coming from the water pump. The engine would start heating up quickly, even at idle. I looked into the radiator, and saw I was not getting any coolant flow. There was no loss of coolant, and the water pump was not leaking from the weep hole.

I pulled the WP off tonight, and found the spline was slipping. The 'female' piece that connects the drive spline to the WP spline was all chewed up on the engine side. It would slip just trying to turn it by hand. The connector piece is simple enough to replace, but I'm more concerned about the drive spline on the engine side.

This is what I found:


Does this drive spline need to be replaced? Are there other options?

 

id say replace it. looks pretty eaten up...

 

That's what I was afraid of.

What about an electric pump? I'm not neccessaraly looking to not "fix it right", but if there are some advantages to an electric WP, plus the fix might be easier/faster (I have to have the car on the road by Friday...I'm moving, but could always replace it later), it might be worth looking into.

 

I was personally in the same boat as you not 2 weeks ago. My WP was leaking very badly and I decided to replace it with a reman stock WP. Yes an elec. WP will give you some small gains, ~5-7rwhp, over a stock replacement, but IMO Id go safe with a mechanical, cam driven WP instead of depending on yet another electrical component, especially when it comes to cooling your engine.